Kiwanis Jamboree in compliance with NCAA rule

A report by the Monroe News-Star stating that two well-attended high school football jamborees in north Louisiana held at UL Monroe and Louisiana Tech have been cancelled as a result of an NCAA rule that was adopted in January 2012 stirred up some questions about the local Kiwanis Club Jamboree at Cajun Field.

The adopted rule 13.11.1.10 states an institution [including any institutional department (e.g., athletics, recreational/intramural)] shall not host, sponsor or conduct a non-scholastic football practice or competition (e.g., seven-on-seven events) in which football prospective student-athletes participate on its campus or at an off-campus facility regularly used by the institution for practice and/or competition by any of the institution’s sport programs.

So why are jamborees at ULM and Louisiana Tech being cancelled and the one at Cajun Field still alive?

Despite the fact that there has been a lot of confusion, the answer appears to be simple. After doing research seeking answers, we’ve learned the Kiwanis Jamboree is an LHSAA sanctioned event and apparently not all jamborees in the state are – although they should be. An event that isn’t sanctioned by the LHSAA is what makes it a non-scholastic event and therefore violates the rule 13.11.1.10.

According to the LHSAA’s web site, there are only 14 approved high school football jamborees in the state and none of the host schools are from the Monroe or Ruston areas. The 14 approved jamborees are hosted by Bunkie, Carencro, Chalmette, Covington, Fontainebleau, LaGrange, North DeSoto, Pickering, Port Allen, Sacred Heart of Ville Platte, South Lafourche, St. Edmund, St. Martin’s and St. Paul’s.

According to the football jamboree application obtained off of the LHSAA’s web site, a host school can get its jamboree sanctioned in the sport of football by paying a non-refundable sanctioning fee of $200 for each varsity team and $100 for each sub-varsity team competing in the jamboree.

It appears thought that there is still more than enough time for the Monroe and Ruston jamborees to become sanctioned, because according to the sanctioning application on the LHSAA web site, request for approval needs to be submitted 14 days prior to the event or a late fee will be applied.

Follow assistant sports editor Eric Narcisse on Twitter @tdanarcisse.

About Eric Narcisse

Eric is the prep editor for The Daily Advertiser sports department, covering both boys and girls athletics. He's been at The Advertiser for more than 10 years.